Polska czerwona (RP)
(most common name)

(transboundary/brand name):
• Polish Red
local/other name:
• Chervona polskaya (Ukrainian)
• Krasnaya pol’skaya (Russian)
• Polish Red-Brown

The Polska czerwona (RP) is an old brachyceros-type indigenous (native) breed of Poland.

By the 1880s, the Polska czerwona (RP) had evolved into two separate types of cattle:
• Polish Red Lowland
• Polish Red Highland

By 1900, a breed society and herdbook existed that had mixed the two types together for serious breeding and upgrading with imported red breeds. (Exact years vary depending on source.)

So, during the first quarter of the 1900s, the Polska czerwona (RP) evolved into a mixture of upgraded Polish highland and lowland red cattle.

WWII caused heavy losses in their population. Black Pied Lowland cattle were brought in to replace the losses and, by the 1950s, all the original Polish Red Lowland cattle strains in the northeast were absorbed. Amongst the Polish Red Highland cattle, a strain named Podgórska (Podgórska Red in English) was the last surviving.

Then, in 1982, after all that upgrading and turmoil, government conservation herds were established using the Podgórska.

Former varieties of the Polska czerwona (RP) include:
• dolinowa (lowland) in Białystok
• Podgórska Red (upland)
• Rawicka
• Silesian Red

In 1999, one of the conservation herds tested had genotype admixtures of Danish Red (23%) and Angeln (28%), with microsatellites and protein markers displaying closeness to the Angeln. As such, the Polska czerwona (RP) is now classified as Baltic Red.

According to DAD-IS:
In 1983, the Polska czerwona (RP) general population was 85,140. Since then, numbers have fallen dramatically with the 2019 population reported as a maximum of 4,000.

Today, the Polska czerwona (RP) is found in the provinces of:
• Warmia-Masuria (northeast)
• Podlasie (northeast)
• Małopolska (southeast)

The Polska czerwona (RP) was traditionally dual-purpose but the focus is now on dairy performance. Qualities reported are:
• performs well in extremely poor environmental and feeding conditions
• performs well with low feeding
• high resistance to disease
• high fertility, longevity and vitality
• easy calving with calves having high vitality and fitness
• milk with high fat content, protein and solids
• good quality kappa-kazein content

Kappa-kazein (also called kappa casein, K-Casein) is a milk protein which helps determine how fast and firm milk will clot and is valued for cheese production.

(Polish) czerwona = red

This page was last updated on: 2024-07-25

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